Seal for cars



A., R. GIBSON. SEAL FOR CARS, 820.

N0. 421,566. Patented Feb. 18,1890.

N. PETERS. Fhoh-Umagnpher. Walhingtan u c.

IATENT OFFICE.

ADELBERT R, GIBSON, or CLEVELAND, OHIO.

SEAL FOR CARS, etc.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Np. 421,566, date February 18, 1890. Application filed October 16 1888. Serial No. 288,215- (No model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADELBERT R. GIBSON, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Oleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State ofthe plate. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the seal before it is locked. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the plate, showing the shackle engaged therein. Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the tag partly broken away.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A designates a thin sheet metal (preferably tin) plate or tag, the side edges of which are rolled or bent upon themselves to form the tubes or pockets B B, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, and O designates the shackle, (preferably of light wire,) one arm 0 of which is fitted and secured in one of the said tubes or pockets of the plate or tag, as shown in Fig. 2. The edges of the said rolls or bends are soldered firmly to the body of the plate to prevent the accidental unrolling thereof before the shackle is applied. The arm a of the shackle is also soldered in the pocket or tube, in which it is placed to guard against accidental displacement. The other arm 0' of the shackle is allowed to remain free until the seal is to be used, when the said arm is passed through the loops, staples, or other fastenings of the door or article to be sealed and inserted at its end in the open tube or pocket of the plate or'tag A. The

plate is now subjected to pressure by means of a hand-stamp or similar device, and the tubes or pockets and the arms of the shackle which are contained therein are corrugated, crimped, or indented simultaneously, thereby preventing the subsequent withdrawal of the arms from the tubes or pockets.

The name of the corporation employing the seal is preferably impressed on the plate or tag when the seal is manufactured, and any other information which it may be desired to inscribe thereon, as the place and date of sealing, may be applied by the stamp simultaneously with the operation of corrugating, crimping, or indenting the tubes or pockets.

The main points of advantage possessed by the improved seal are its simplicity and cheapness of manufacture and the facility with which it is applied to the car.

I am aware that it is not broadly new to attach a plate 01' tag to a shackle by arranging the arms of the latter in openings or rolls of the latter and then compressing the said rolls to bind the arms. It has, however, been the practice heretofore to provide the wire forming the shackle with notches, knots, enlargements, bends, twists, and similar irregularities requiring a specialpreparation of the wire, whereby, when the rolls are compressed, the sides thereof will fit around and conform to the shape of the said irregularities,whereas I employ perfectly smooth plain wire of any common kind. The manufacture of the shackle employed in my seal consists merely in bending a sufficient length of ordinary wire to form a simple loop.

WVhen the rolls of the plate or tag are compressed by a suitable stamp the contacting faces of the jaws of which are provided with alternate and intermeshing ribs and depressions, the arms of the shackle are bent simultaneously with the opposite sides of the tubes or pockets, and are caused to conform exactly to the shape produced. in the said sides by the jaws.

\Vhen the arms of the shackle are provided with enlargements, it is necessary, in order to lock the same in the rolls, for the projections on the stamp to strike accurately between the enlargements in order to press the sides of the rolls into the depressions between the enlargements; and if the stamp, through carelessness 0r inattention, is not properly applied the impression will not be completely made and the seal will be unsafe. The stamp may, however, be applied in any position to the improved seal, provided the sides of the tubes or pockets and the contained arms of the shackle are impressed, and it requires but a slight impression of the same to prevent the withdrawal of the arms.

A further advantage in the use of plain wire is that the tubes or pockets may be made to fit the wire snugly, and therefore less material is used, less impression is necessary to secure the shackle, and the wire fits as snugly in the tube or pocket when the latter is compressed as before, whereas, when the arms of the shackle are provided with en largeinents, the rolls must be made large enough to accommodate the latter, and therefore when the rolls are compressed the portions of the sides between the enlargements spread laterally, and consequently do no t the arms tightly.

The pockets are formed by a single roll or coil of the side edges of the plate or body, the edges after forming the coil or roll being, soldered to the plate or body. The wire shackle is of a size in eross section propertionate to the diameter of the pocket, so as to closely fit and entirely fill the pockets, and thus, when the tag or seal is stamped, thev wire and pockets are corrugated as an en tirety just as though the two parts were solidi By this means the corrugations are made of the same size everywhere in cross-section.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a seal for cars and the like, aplate pro-g vided with pockets, formed of a sin le thick-j ness of metal at all points,and having its edges! extended beyond the pockets and soldered to the body of the plate, in combination witha shackle of plain wire fitting closely in said; pockets, substantially as set forth.

2. In a seal for cars and the like, the com-.

bination of the plate or tag provided at its edges with pockets of a single thickness of plate and a shackle of plain wire having one of its arms secured rigidly in one of the pockets and the other arm free, substantially as set forth.

3. In a seal for cars and the like, ametallic plate having pockets of fixed size at its op posite sides, said pockets being formed by bending the edges of the plate around upon the body thereof and fastening the edges to the body, in combination with a wire of uniform cross-section at all points and adapted to fit snugly into said pockets, substantially as set forth.

4. In a seal for cars 'and the like, a plate having its side edges rolled or coiled once around, so as to provide pockets which are formed of a single thickness of metal at all points, and having the side edges soldered to the body of the plate after completing the single coil or roll, in combination with a shackle of plain wire made of a size in crosssection to fit exactly in the pockets, so that when the wire is inserted the pockets are filled, whereby when the sealis stamped both the wire and the pockets will be corrugated as an entirety, as though the two parts were solid, and thus produce corrugations along the seal of-the same size everywhere in crosssection, as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ADELBERII R. GIBSON.

.Vitnesses:

I. L. BAUM,

R. A. DAVIDSON. 

